Lord of Annihilation

Five minutes before the Orbital Plasma Cannon was launched.

Situated deep underground the Central Island of the Academy was a bomb shelter meant to protect important dignitaries and people of interest in the case of disaster. 

Currently, this shelter was repurposed into a temporary Operations Control Center and was inhabited by Reyna and other technical officers, in charge of coordinating the later steps of the plan.

It was from here that the Artificial Weather Control satellites were accessed and used to engineer the lightning storm and mist that was used to trap the Stage 3 creature.

Seated on the central console surrounded by multiple holographic screens and keyboards was Reyna, who was overlooking this side of the operation. 

"Target has entered the kill zone. Satellites have been calibrated and are standing by. Awaiting your command." Sitting a few seats below, an officer requested permission.

Confirming the live feed with her own eyes, Reyna then replied. "Execute."

At her command, the first bolt of lightning appeared on the screen followed by an entire storm. A minute or so later, the fragrant fog meant to confuse the creature's olfactory functions flooded the area.

With the arrival of the smoke, the image on the video was disrupted. Fortunately, with the adept working of a few officers, the plain image was changed into a thermal variant, restoring the view.

Reyna carefully eyed the image with her heart in her mouth. Seeing the creature stop and roar in confusion, made her let out a massive sigh of relief.

'Thankfully, it worked.' Her mind greatly relaxed and her body slackened from the tiredness.

Seeing Alex and the other soldiers rush into the fog with their harpoons and chains, made her let go, the last of her worries.

Turning to her left, Reyna narrowed out a female officer and asked about her progress on the task given to her.

"Have you accessed the surveillance satellite servers yet?"

The lady officer shook her head and replied.

"Not yet, Lady Reyna. The sudden destruction of our last base activated the fail-safes of the system. It will take me a few more minutes to gain access."

Finding the excuse reasonable, Reyna nodded her head and encouraged.

"Do your best. We need to regain access to those satellites as fast as possible and learn the situation of the other bases while informing them of the attack. We also need to figure out how this creature managed to slip through the surveillance net."

"Understood, Ma'am!" the officer offered a salute, before getting back to work.

Reyna then turned to look at the large holographic screen, situated in the center of the room and confirmed the progression of the battle outside. 

Upon seeing that the harpooning of the creature was nearly complete, she questioned the officer's in charge of the next step of the plan.

"Is the Orbital Cannon in place?" 

"Yes, Ma'am! The pre-launch checks are also complete. It's ready to fire at will!" the officer exclaimed.

Nodding her head to his answer, Reyna placed her tired eyes on the screen once more. The last of the soldiers had almost retreated outside of the firing range of the cannon.

"Defensive Shield Team, wait for the cannon to fire before deploying the energy shields."

"Yes, Ma'am!"

After confirming everyone was safely out of range, Reyna pressed a button on her terminal, calling Alex.

"The Orbital Cannon is ready." She tiredly spoke.

She then eagerly waited for the order that arrived a few seconds later.

"Fire." 

"Fire!" Reyna echoed Alex's order.

Three keys were turned at the same time, and the button to fire the cannon was pushed. A second or so later, the thick beam of annihilation fell atop the accursed creature.

"YEAH!!" 

"WE DID IT!!"

Most of the officers rose up from within their seats and cried in jubilation. Some laughed, some hugged, and some even cried in relief and joy.

It was not known of many of the people in here had lost a person dear to them at the hands of that accursed monster. However, it could be seen that everyone here shared the joy of Mankind's victory.

Even Reyna had a smile on her face. However, being too tired to get up from her seat and join the celebrations, she settled at leaning back on her chair and closing her eyes in ease.

'It's finally done. I have to admit, although I hate that woman for her actions, her abilities unquestionable and fantastic.'

The image of a certain figure dressed in purple came to her mind. It was then followed by the image of a young man sporting an expressionless face.

'Would I have been like her if I had followed him?' an idle thought appeared.

However, the thought was quickly replaced by a surge of anger. Reyna instinctively gritted her teeth, as her eyebrows furrowed.

'That bastard! Even now, he still hasn't shown up.' 

Just as Reyna was about to break into a string of expletives, she was interrupted by the startled cry of a female officer.

"La-lady Re-rey-na!! So-someth-ing ter-rible ha-has happe-ened!!" 

"Hmm?" 

Opening her eyes, Reyna pinpointed the source of the startling cry to be the lady officer in charge of re-establishing communications with the surveillance satellites. 

An ominous sensation appeared within Reyna's heart and it quickly started to fester.

"What happened?" While asking this question, Reyna felt her throat be oddly dry.

"Th-the planet of Venus was destroyed! All of our bases, encampments, and settlement cities are gone!!"

Jumping to her feet, Reyna asked in absolute shock. "What?!" 

She then immediately rushed to the lady's seat, pushed her aside, and stared at the holographic monitor. Reyna's fingers blurred and soul power rapidly drained from her body as she started using her abilities.

An enormous amount of data entered her head and was near-instantaneously sorted into information. However, the more Reyna learned the more her face paled.

Her eyes rolled back and her body collapsed onto the ground. Her face was entirely bloodless and her mouth was hypnotically moving.

"All dead…tens of millions of humans are dead…"

"..not just Venus but the other two Core planets inhabiting humans were also destroyed. Earth is the only one left…"

"…finished. Mankind is effectively finished." 

While Reyna was lost in her senseless mutterings oblivious to the astonished and worried officers surrounding her, one of the officers seated at the very front of the room voiced his surprise.

"Strange, something suddenly appeared within the atmosphere. How did our surveillance miss that?"

"Hmm…another abnormality has shown up, a few hundred kilometers outside Earth's atmosphere. It seems to be…rapidly accelerating towards here?! What the hell?!!" He shouted with amazement.

Alas, none of the people within the room paid any attention to his words. All of their eyes, Reyna included, stared at the central holographic screen.

The Stage 3 Scrofanian, thought to be surely dead had jumped up from within the large, deep hole. Its body was completely absent of injuries and its eyes carried a furious expression.

『Deploy Domain: Rain of Hammers!!』

The vexed voice of the Stage 3 Scrofanian speaking Universal Tongue resounded within the temporary Operations Center.

------------

『Deploy Domain: Rain of Hammers!!』

In the scene of the ambush site, the voice of the Stage 3 Scrofanian thundered in the air.

Floating a few meters above the newly formed hole was the massive, unharmed body of the Stage 3 being, radiating an enormous amount of soul power.

『Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! I'll kill all of you runts for shaming me!!!』

A ring of soul power expanded with the enraged Scrofanian as the center and enveloped a 10km area, trapping every single one of the attackers within. Stage 3 soul power flooded the entire area changing the Rules within.

The grayish dusky sky instantly darkened as crimson clouds started to gather over the area. The soft, fertile ground started to harden becoming denser and rockier. Gravity within the area significantly increased. 

Alex, Olivia, Anya, and the rest of the soldiers who were now trapped within the Domain felt an intolerable pressure press down upon their bodies. This pressure combined with the increased gravity rendered them immobile.

The sheer density and intensity of the Stage 3 soul power suffused within the air, suffocated the Stage 2 beings turning the simple act of breathing, laborious.

Rendered incapable of even mounting the slightest of resistance, the eyes of all the humans darkened with hopelessness. 

There was no plan, scheme, or trick that would help them in this situation. 

In front of a fully-empowered Stage 3 being those lesser were mere ants to be crushed underneath one's feet. 

'So this is the power of a Stage 3 being…'

'To think we wanted to kill such a being…'

'How foolish.'

Despair prevailed and the humans lost all traces of resisting. Alex and Olivia were no different.

Resistance was futile. Giving up and accepting death would grant them release sooner.

'Not only did Lucius fight such a being, he even won against it…and to think I was proud of my strength…' 

Experiencing the Domain of a Stage 3 being for the first time, Olivia silently laughed at her own ignorance. 

Before this point, she had only known that Stage 3 being was stronger than Stage 2 being.

The events with the Scrofanian had boosted her confidence, making her think that such beings were in fact killable and weren't as invincible as Ka'lor'ah had made them out to be.

Alas, how naïve and stupid had she been.

'And now I pay the price for my foolishness.' 

Closing her eyes, Olivia accepted her fate against such insurmountable odds.

Tens of thousands of yellow, earth-colored stone hammers formed in the sky underneath the crimson clouds. The energy radiated by each hammer equaled that of a Mid-Level Stage 3 being, i.e. each hammer equaled a full-power attack by a Mid-Level Stage 2 being.

The hammers floated statically, waiting for their master to swing them downwards. A casual wave of his hands would send them flying towards the petrified humans below.

『Now, you can all die!!』

Just as the Stage 3 Scrofanian was about to swing his right hand, his body suddenly paused. A streak of black light passed vertically through his 5m tall body, bifurcating his body. 

After flashing once, the dark light disappeared as suddenly as it appeared.

The Stage 3 Scrofanian remained without movement. A second later, the right side of his head slid downwards by a few centimeters, with the change continuing with the rest of his body.

Under the shocked and dumbfounded eyes of the frozen humans, the 5m tall body of the Scrofanian split into two halves, each falling to its respective sides.

Copious amounts of blood, fat, and guts spilled from within its body and into the large pit of the ground. The hammers populating the sky started to vanish alongside the crimson clouds. 

The humans felt the pressure surrounding them vanish, as the earth and sky started to revert back to their previous state.

"Wha-what just happened?" Alex, being the first to recover from his stupor, asked. His eyes looked towards the pit before turning to his fellow comrades.

Apart from pale faces and befuddled expressions none of them seemed to be harmed. All of them seemed to be just as confused as he was.

Or rather, almost all of them as his eyes quickly landed on Olivia who was showing a peculiar expression.

Her cheeks were reddened and her breathing was hurried. Her eyes unflinchingly stared at a certain spot while filled with boundless joy and love. Tracing her line of sight, Alex finally saw what she saw.

Well, it was more of 'who' she saw.

Standing some distance away from the pit was a long-haired youth holding a scythe. His clothes consisted of a worn leather armor, which worked more of a piece of clothing than as armor.

His head was tilted towards the sky and his indifferent eyes were staring at the black spot in it. His entire body radiated with unfriendly coldness and scathing sharpness, hidden beneath which was a faint sense of majesty

"Five for five. About time." The youth calmly spoke.

At that moment, something seemed to explode within his body, as the aura of power surrounding his body started to rapidly increase. 

Solid clouds of transparent soul power were spat out of his body en masse filling out hundreds of cubic meters of space around him. These clouds then started to inflate and deflate rapidly, seemingly undergoing a metamorphosis.

"Interesting. To be able to kill my subordinate even before I could react, you're strength is incredible."

The dark spot which was far up in the sky just moments ago suddenly appeared a few dozen meters above the transparent clouds. 

The dark spot, now recognizable as a humanoid figure wearing a black robe covering all of his features, spoke while shaking his head. 

The language he used was surprisingly Mankind's!

"However, I do not know if you're brave or stupid. To dare undergo your ascendance into Stage 3 right before an enemy, you must be the first in this vast Universe."

"It saddens me to no small extent to kill such a tal—" 

The dark-robbed figure speech was suddenly cut, when a slash containing unstable, volatile [Annihilation Energy] appeared before him.

"You talk too much." Lucius mechanically declared, before swinging his scythe once more.

"[Eviscerate]"